If you are at all familiar with USA made titanium bikes you will likely have heard of the name No.22 That cleaver name is the atomic number for the metal titanium. These beautiful machines are carefully built in upper New York state by very experienced welders who cut their teeth with other respected titanium bike builders in years past. If you are fortunate enough to own one of these bikes you probably were quite particular with the components that you draped on that gorgeous frame. This is where Cognoscenti Cycles comes into the picture. I got an email from Joseph from Brooklyn NY who wanted me to build him a very special set of wheels for his new No.22 titanium steed.
They had to tick a few boxes as often is the case and this requires a bit of careful thought. In the end I came up with some suggestions that met all the requirements of light weight, speed and durability across several road conditions.
I tend to design from the centre out which means I start by considering what the possible hub options might be. We weren’t constrained by budget so that meant everything was on the table. After considering several USA made boutique hub manufacturers we landed on Onyx. If you know me, you are already aware that I am a huge fan of Onyx hubs. I ride them myself and I guess that’s a pretty good clue that I am completely sold on their unique design features and bombproof build. We opted for the new Vesper model. Its a tad lighter than other Onyx models. The unique Sprag clutch that separates Onyx hubs from all other is not light by modern standards, but it’s other features far outweigh its extra grams of steel. The Sprag clutch provides instant engagement when you hit the pedals and I do mean instant. When you are not pedalling it completely disengages and offers next to no rolling resistance whatsoever. No other hub in the world does this. Oh, and did I mention that its dead silent! Yes, DEAD silent. Add to the equation some top quality German Verinent ceramic hybrid bearings and you have a ride like no other.
The next consideration were the rims. We agreed that carbon was undoubtedly the way to go as this would add that much desired extra degree of compliance when you hit those gravel roads. This is the wonderful thing about carbon rims that is almost never even mentioned. If a carbon rim is well designed with proper carbon lay up it can both be adequately stiff and strong but have some road shock dampening qualities that render it special. Considering how costly they are one would hope you’d get all those benefits! But not every carbon rim exhibits all those characteristics and they are definitely not all created equal. This is were a very experienced wheel builder is worth his salt. After building countless models from many different companies one eventually gets a clear picture as to which ones deliver the goods and which ones just own a ton of hype.
In steps Nox Composites from Tennessee. These guys don’t have the biggest name in Carbon rims but they do delver the goods. I recall building my first pair of their carbon rims for a cyclocross rider and man was I impressed. Immediately they were on my radar. After a complete season of thrashing those very light rims they were still perfectly round and true.
So for Joesphs wheels I chose the Nox Composites Falkor 36D. its quite light at 415 grams and it sports an asymmetric offset of 2mm which helps equalise spoke tension especially important on the rear wheel. The depth of 36mm was just right. Deep enough to have a slight aero quality and compliant enough to react well on some bumpy gravel roads. The outer width of 27mm works well with the 28mm tires that were mounted. Pair those with the new Tubolito ultra light tubes and you have very low weight and very minimal rolling resistance for days when you just want to fly across the pavement.
Ready for anything, be it gravel roads or smooth as glass pavement.
Sapim CX Ray bladed spokes were the obvious choice for very light weight and superior strength. Alpina ABS alloy 5.5mm hex head spoke nipples from Italy were also used. There really is no better nipple made and believe me that tiny component is really important, yet often gets overlooked. One must remember the devil is in the small details. All of them.
The actual build went very smoothly as I had hoped it would. No surprises whatsoever. The rims built up beautifully and I knew that Joesph was going to really enjoy these. I boxed these up very carefully for their Fedex trip to New York. All went well.
Joesph kindly sent me this photo ( below) of his No.22 “Great Divide” against the Californian coastline, making me instantly jealous for warmer cycling weather! Looks like the ultimate bike on a perfect road!
Joesph’s No.22 titanium machine. Totally stunning!